From NBC:The FDA says it’s illegal, but it’s being sold to anyone right out in the open, and the people doing it don't seem to care that selling illegal and expired medications put lives at risk.
NBCNewYork.com went undercover at the aqueduct flea market in Ozone Park, Queens, where these kind of medications are sold for a steal.
On a bitingly cold Saturday afternoon, the flea market at the Aqueduct Race Track is packed with people buying everything from makeup, old candy, and clothing.
But taking a closer look at the goods being hawked you’ll find a more nefarious lineup of goods -- expired, over-the-counter medications like Robitussin, Claritin, and even children's medications, like Dimetapp.
The expiration dates range anywhere from a few months past the guaranteed safety date to years expired.
Pediatrician Greg Yapalater says the main concern with meds like these is not so much that they are expired, but rather the uncertainty of where they come from – whether they’ve been stored properly or if they’ve been tampered with.
Click here to watch Leroy Comrie and Ruben Wills get upset about this.
9 comments:
Expired cold medications would NEVER put anyone's life at risk - in fact the shelf life of ALL meds is greatly diminished in packaging to ENSURE its strength and effectiveness. So you can take last year's aspirin, and it WILL take your headache away.
THIS whole thing is about MONEY and ONLY money - by law all health facilities have to get rid of expired meds. And there's the answer - whoever is selling them most probably has access to them.
Don't panic if you take an expired Tylenol now . . .
Blabs you old fool, you're entirely missing the point, as usual: where are these drugs coming from? How are the sellers getting them? Were they properly stored to ensure they haven't gone bad? Were they recalled? (Many name brand children's drugs were recalled over the last year. Do these flea market fools know this, or regard those recalls if they even know about them?)
Expired meds, counterfeit goods, filthy conditions, the list could go on and on. Glad that flea market is closing but someone should show Willis a map of his district. Aqueduct is in Ullrick's.
Actually Babs is quite right.
The expiration date signifies the latest date that a medicine will still have 100% potency.
So do we throw out aspirin because it's down to 95% potency? What a waste!
And the expiration date has nothing to do with storage methodology. If the drugs have not been stored incorrectly but is not past the expiration date would you even know?
Blabs may be right, but she's MISSING THE POINT of the article in the first place.
You have to be a loser to even shop at this market. It's just full of trash.
"You have to be a loser to even shop at this market. It's just full of trash."
And that is what the point of the article should have been.
"Caveat emptor" was true 2000 years ago. It's true today. Learn it. Live by it.
Flea market there is a big contributor to the neighborhood blight.
"...that selling illegal and expired medications put lives at risk."
You know else puts lives at risk? Having Bloomberg for a third term!
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